Tom Blackwell
“Each of my paintings is the result of painstaking, analytical, and loving transformation of that visual material into paint.”
‒ Tom Blackwell
Tom Blackwell (1938‒2020) was born in Chicago and is primarily known for his work in Photorealism, a stylistic movement noted for its ardent embrace of photographic source material. In 1969, he began a series of brashly beautiful motorcycle paintings that established him as one of the founders and foremost artists of the movement. The myriad painterly possibilities of urban store windows became another abiding interest. In his store-window paintings, Blackwell captures the counterpoint between the idealized reality within the store display and the bustling urban life outside, reflected in the glass. As author Linda Chase remarks, “The magic of these paintings resides in the artist’s ability to transform the arbitrary photographic information into dynamic and complex artistic compositions, revealing and clarifying the image while preserving its mystery.”
Blackwell has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, and his works can be found in many permanent collections, such as those of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the Detroit Institute of Arts; the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC; and the Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, New Jersey. Blackwell lives with his wife in Rhinebeck, New York.
